>
>While it is true that the percentage of private
>prisons in the US is small I expect it is growing. How
>rapidly I don't know. Perhaps someone else has the
>figures.
This is from the Sentencing Project in 2004:
The spate of widely publicized problems at private correctional facilities has led to increased public scrutiny of the private prison business, contributing to the slowing growth of CCA and Wackenhut, as well as other smaller firms. Since 2000, no states have negotiated new private prison contracts, and several states have curtailed their relationship with the private prison industry. North Carolina, citing insufficient staff and mismanagement, canceled its two contracts with CCA and also passed legislation prohibiting the import of out-of-state inmates, as did Montana and California. In February 2001, Arkansas announced it was taking back operations of two of its prisons from Wackenhut. In response to these developments, neither CCA nor Wackenhut have emerged financially unscathed. CCA, especially, has taken a financial nose-dive, with its stock trading as low as 18 cents per share in December 2000 compared to a high of $44 in 1998.18 Most recently, though, CCA shares have recovered to about $18 in early 2002, though this actually represented a value of $1.80 following a 1 to 10 reverse stock split.
http://www.sentencingproject.org/Admin/Documents/publications/inc_prisonprivatization.pdf